First World Problems
by ImaginIsa
Summary: Artemis had to admit that Gotham Academy had many perks her old school did not. But never in all of her time in the public schooling system, had she been forced to hide under her desk because a couple of mad-men with guns were roaming the halls of the school. Gotham Academy is under attack, and it will take its resident heroes-in-training to save the school!


**Author's Note: Young Justice fic number 4! This one takes place sometime between the first and second seasons. I don't own any of the DC Characters, locations, or story-lines.**

 **First World Problems**

(Or when your private school gets attacked by international terrorists because one of your classmates is the daughter of a member of the UN)

Artemis had to admit that Gotham Academy had many perks her old school did not. It had AP classes and a 100% graduation rate. Everyone who graduated went to college. And she no longer had to worry that the kid giving her a funny look might be hiding a knife in his belt or had to remember to avoid the bathrooms between the 4th and 5th periods because kids were trading drugs in there.

But never in all of her time in the public schooling system, had she been forced to hide under her desk because a couple of mad-men with guns were roaming the halls of the school.

 _I could have gone without this_ , Artemis thought grumpily, _I get shot at enough when I'm on Missions._

One of the gun-men in question came up to the glass window of their classroom and peered inside, giving them a leering smile.

 _Hell, no!_ Artemis thought.

She reached inside of her backpack and pulled out a nondescript, black drawstring bag. And then hesitated. _I can't go into full Artemis mode inside of the classroom, everyone will see me. But..._

Artemis glanced behind her. She was only a few feet away from the back door. If she could get there without anyone noticing...

The gun-man opened fire on the window, bullets embedded themselves in the back wall and several of the other teenagers screamed.

Artemis gritted her teeth and got ready. When the gun-man looked down to climb in through the window, she dashed to the back door and slipped out. She held her breath for a moment, but there was no shout of alarm, no chase.

A grim smile on her face, Artemis ran down the hall. _I need height, I need to figure out how many of them there are._

As she ran, she pulled one of her green hoods out of the purse and over her face, wriggled out of her school skirt and pulled off the tie and jacked so that she was left in her black under-things. She stuffed everything in the bag and discarded the ensemble into a bathroom at random after she took out the last two items: the miniature crossbow Wally and Robin had made for her, and the darts Green Arrow had given her for it.

She was loading the cross-bow while rounding the corner when someone gave a shout. Artemis registered the black blur and threw herself backward purely on instinct. The boomerang thing passed millimeters over her nose and Artemis came up with her crossbow tracking, ready to give someone a healthy dose of the tranquilizer within them when-

"Batgirl! Artemis! STOP!"

Artemis froze, her finger still on the trigger, as she found her field of view blocked by a familiar figure wearing black sweats and a tight black t-shirt with his customary mask.

"Robin?" She asked, incredulous.

"Yes," he said. "Mind lowering the crossbow? It'd be ironic if I got shot with something I made for you."

Artemis lowered it slightly, her gaze having traveled to the person she had meant to be shooting. Red hair pulled into a messy pony-tail, in black yoga pants and a black long-sleeves shirt and wearing a black mask with tiny pointed ears...

"You're Batgirl?" Artemis asked.

"Yeah," said Batgirl, "Got a problem with that?"

Artemis shrugged. "I thought you were younger."

"Oh, that," Batgirl rolled her eyes and stores the bat-shaped boomerang into her belt. "No, I'm older than Robin."

"Not by much," he muttered. "Look, this is cute and all but we better move."

He took off without waiting for a response and Artemis rolled her eyes, not that Batgirl was any better. _Does Batman test them on how fast they can disappear?_ Artemis wondered, annoyed. She caught up easily enough and saw that - to their surprise –

"Are we going to the front office?" She hissed.

"Whoever these guys are, they're smarter than they seem," Batgirl said. "They crashed all of the cameras and most of the main computer."

"Most?" Artemis asked. She wasn't too surprised that the school has cameras - a ton of high-profile people sent their kids here.

Robin grinned. "I can get it back," he said, "I just need a computer terminal that's linked to everything."

"Principal's office?" Artemis guessed.

"Bingo," said Robin.

Batgirl peeked her head around the last corner, and promptly back-tracked. "Three idiots with guns guarding the doors," she whispered.

"Only three?" Artemis clicked off the safety on her cross-bow.

Robin frowned, "Why are there any? Shouldn't they-"

The intercom crackled to life, cutting off the rest of Robin's words. "Attention students of Gotham Academy," a smooth voice said. "By all means, use your cell-phones to contact your parents. Tell them that, if they want you home alive, they will have to wire ten million dollars to the bank account my men will soon display on national television. They have until the end of the school-day. Oh, and if any police or heroes show up, we will start shooting hostages."

"Oh," said Robin.

"But we're here already," said Artemis.

"So if we get seen it's going to be a disaster," muttered Batgirl.

"So we make sure it says an..."

"Aster," finished Artemis.

Robin flashed her a smile and Artemis shook her head, fighting a grin. She would worry about why Robin was even at Gotham Academy later, she decided. Right now, she was glad to have him in her side.

* * *

"Bruce!" Bruce Wayne's assistant at Wayne Enterprises came running into his office. "Have you seen the news?"

Bruce Wayne - currently halfway through a very thick report about their latest technology - raised an eyebrow and turned on the TV just as his phone began buzzing in his pocket.

He looked down discretely as Lucy changed the channel and registered the small Bat icon flashing.

"Lucy, I'm sorry," said Bruce, already standing. "But I need to..." He trailed off as he read the tag-line on the TV screen: "Gotham Academy attacked by masked gunmen. All heroes warned to stay away or the hostages will be killed."

"Turn up the sound!" Said Bruce. Lucy did so.

"...the leader of the group, who has not identified himself, demands that the parents of all the students at the school send 10 million dollars to the following bank account." A number appeared on the screen. "If the demands aren't met..." the reporter swallowed hard before finishing. "They'll start shooting."

"Doesn't your foster son...?" Asked Lucy.

"Yes," said Bruce shortly. He pressed a button on the intercom. "I need a company car ready at the front."

"Yes, sir."

"Lucy," said Bruce, putting on his jacket. "Get some analysts from finance up here and figure out how much money we can spare in a pinch; there are several students on Wayne Foundation scholarships whose families cannot pay that ransom."

"Where are you going?" Lucy asked, bewildered.

"To go stand outside of the school," said Bruce. "If the heroes aren't allowed to come, maybe I can do something about it." And he stormed off before she could object.

* * *

"Stand back," Commissioner Gordon bellowed into the megaphone as his men tried to hold back the crowd of angry and worried parents. "I know you're worried about your children, but storming the school won't help them. STAND BACK!"

There was the whirr of an expensive motor and the crowd made way for a black car driven by a man in uniform. Bruce Wayne got out of the back seat. "Commissioner, how can I help?"

"Unless you can calm the crowd," said Gordon tightly. "I suggest you return home until the incident is over, sir."

Bruce frowned and turned. "My fellow parents!" He bellowed. The crowd stopped jostling and everyone looked at Bruce. "Our children are in danger," Bruce continued in a loud voice. "And their safety depends on us. If we storm these gates, if we disrupt the work of the GPD we may lose our children for good. So, please, step back across the street. Talk to your banks, and let us wait for further instructions."

"Who do you think you are!" One shrill voice demanded.

"That's Bruce Wayne, you idiot!" Someone hissed back. "He has a son here..." muttering and grumbling and in a few cases crying, the crowd stepped back and a few even got out cell phones to call their banks.

"Anything else I can do?" Bruce asked a bewildered commissioner Gordon. "I have some people working on how much of the ransom we can afford to pay. I feel...responsible for the students on my scholarship."

"My daughter is on one of your scholarships," said Gordon gruffly.

"I know," said Bruce grimly. "And the Justice League would be fools to do anything with so many hostages."

* * *

"We're on our own," said Robin grimly. The three young heroes had jumped up into the air vents, trying to stay hidden until the came up with a good strategy.

They didn't have a good strategy yet.

"Can't Miss Martian or one of our invisibility enabled friends help us out?" Asked Artemis.

"It would take them too long to get here," said Robin. "We want this over quickly."

"I don't get it," said Batgirl. "Why attack here? There are some filthy rich kids here but most people are on some sort of scholarship or on reduced tuition. There are places in New York that would be a much better target for ransom."

"Unless the ransom is a distraction," said Robin. He turned to Artemis. "That new girl in your class...do you remember what her parents do?"

"Why the new girl?" Asked Artemis. She remembered who Robin meant all right. She'd been relieved to no longer be the new one.

"Because she's the only one I don't know," replied Robin.

Artemis paused. "You know everyone at this school?" Artemis asked. "Who _are_ you?"

"Doesn't matter," interrupted Batgirl. "The new girl?"

"Ugh...her parents are some kind of diplomats," said Artemis, frowning. "Her name is...Lindsay Chang."

"Chang?" Repeated Robin weakly. "As in UN Secretary General Chang?"

"Oh," said Artemis, gulping. "Yeah...she may have mentioned the UN..."

"Shit," said Batgirl.

"Okay," said Robin. "So we save the new girl."

* * *

Lindsay Chang was not having the best day.

She'd woken up late and had to skip breakfast, her car had gotten a flat tire on the way to school and now there were crazy gunmen in the school!

To top it all off, the Justice League wasn't going to try anything with the threat of kids getting shot hanging over their heads so, even though Lindsay had pressed the special speed-dial on her phone alerting both her father's bodyguards and the Justice League that she was in a life-threatening situation, she probably wasn't getting rescued anytime soon.

And, for all the time she spent talking about fashion, Lindsay was intelligent. She knew that if these people figured out who she was her father could be forced to make decisions that affected the entire world. So she kept her head down and shuffled along with her classmates as the bad-guys forced them to the gym with the rest of the school and went around taking everyone's phones. A few idiots tried to argue with their captors, reluctant to give up their technology, and got slapped across the face for their trouble. The teachers and staff were nowhere to be seen - probably being taken to another area of the school.

A man wearing a strange black mask entered the gym. "Are all the students accounted for?" He barked at one of his men.

"We're missing eight according to today's attendance," said one of his men.

"Probably hiding in the bathrooms," said Black Mask. "Find them! And now..." he looked around as his men followed his orders. "Which one of you is the daughter of Secretary General Chang?"

A few students looked at Lindsay and, realizing their mistake, looked away again.

 _Too late._

"Hello sweetie," said Black Mask, coming up to her. "You're going to come with me and call your father."

* * *

"They have all the kids in the gym and the teachers tied up in the faculty lounge," reported Robin as he came running back from a quick look around. "Looks like the gym teacher took down two of the bad guys before they managed to tie him up."

"Good old Mr. Williard," said Batgirl fondly. "He used to be a body builder."

"And Lindsay?" asked Artemis. But that question was answered by a shrill voice around the corner:

"I will NOT be bullied by terrorists!"

"You will make the phone call," said the voice from the intercom announcement. "Or I will start shooting your class mates."

"If you start shooting people the Justice League will show up!" Said Lindsay bravely.

"They already have," said Artemis. "Put your hands up, you big bully!"

Black Mask turned slowly to look down the crossbow being held by the blonde teenager in a green mask. "I thought I said no heroes," said Black Mask.

"I'm no hero," said Artemis.

An explosion from the gym startled the whole group.

And Artemis fired. The first tranquilizer hit one of Black Mask's men in the neck. The other guard had the good sense to put up his hand but Artemis had been expecting that and sank tranq number 2 into the space between the end of his glove and his jacket.

Black Mask grabbed Lindsay and put her in front of him like a shield but the daughter of a diplomat knows to throw a punch, and elbowed him hard in the gut before throwing herself down. Artemis shot a dart at his ass with immense satisfaction.

"Just a hero in training," Artemis finished.

While Artemis went after Lindsay and her captors, Batgirl and Robin had once again taken to the air ducts. The explosion that had given Artemis the diversion she needed was a collection of baterangs going off. Robin's blew out the back door of the gym and Batgirl's went off near the gunmen.

As the would-be bad-guys milled about in the smoke, Robin dropped down from the ceiling. "RUN!" He bellowed.

There was an instant stampede for the hole in the wall as Batgirl and Robin ran to disarm the captor's for good.

* * *

The explosion made Commissioner Gordon draw his gun and Bruce wished for the hundredth time that he was Batman at the moment and not just Bruce Wayne.

"What was that?" A frightened voice called. And then the stream of kids running for their lives appeared.

"MOVE!" Gordon yelled. And he ran forward to provide cover fire if needed. His men followed him. The kids ran around the police, hurtling themselves into their parents arms or hiding behind the fire truck and police cars. Bruce scanned the crowd and grimaced.

Dick was nowhere to be seen. Neither were Batgirl and Artemis.

There was the sound of gunfire and another muted explosion.

 _They've got this_ , Bruce tried to reassure himself. _For now..._

"Dick? Dick!" He yelled. "Where's my son? Has anyone seen my son?!"

* * *

Robin dropped to his knees, narrowly avoiding another spray of gunfire and reached back blindly for whatever sports equipment was against the wall. Finding himself with a dodgeball, he threw it with all his might and caught the man he was fighting right in the face.

Artemis came running up, shooting her darts, and took out two more men. Robin tackled the last man standing as Batgirl ushered the last few kids out of the building.

"Lindsay, run!" Robin yelled. She didn't need to be told twice.

"And us?" Asked Artemis.

"We need to change back into our uniforms," said Dick. "We'll say we hid in the bathrooms or something - come on!" The three of them darted back around the corner only to find the three men who had gone off looking for missing kids coming right at them.

"Move seven!" Robin yelled.

Without breaking her rhythm, Artemis dropped to one knee and put out her hands; Robin used her clasped hands as a springboard to go sailing into the lead man, going into a roundhouse kick to knock out a second man before the third could even bring his gun to bear.

"BAM!" Man number three fired just as Batgirl got close enough to punch him in the face. Just in case, Artemis tranquilized him, too.

"Robin?"

"I'm fine, let's go!"

They all hurried into the bathrooms from earlier (it was easier to get around when you weren't in air ducts) and Artemis picked up her discarded gym bag while Batgirl jumped onto the sink to remove a panel from the ceiling to pull out a backpack.

"I'm sure I don't need to remind you about secret identities and all that," said Batgirl, glancing at Artemis.

Artemis removed her mask and smiled. "I won't tell if you won't."

Batgirl blinked and then removed her own.

"Your alias is your real name?" Asked Barbara Gordon. "Isn't that risky?"

Artemis shrugged. "Artemis is the archer goddess. I kinda like it."

They pulled on their skirts, pulled on ties and ran out. Robin - _holy shit is that Dick fucking Grayson?!_ \- was already waiting for them, looking somewhat pale. "Let's go!"

And they ran out just as the GPD began running in.

"Dad!" Yelled Barbara with a realistic sob in her voice. "Dad!"

"Barbara!" Commissioner Gordon scooped his daughter into a hug.

Dick ran up to Bruce Wayne (Artemis' mind was one big question mark) and began stammering, "You wouldn't believe it Bruce! I was in the bathroom and heard the guns go off so I stayed in there you know, I'm not stupid and then I heard those two next door. And then Robin came in and told me to stay hidden and that I'd know when to run - what a jerk, what the hell does that even mean - and then we heard the explosion so I went to ask the girls if they thought that was the signal and we agree it was so then we came out-"

Dick paused to draw breath and Bruce half-laughed, clapping his foster-son on the back. Dick winced at that and Artemis narrowed her eyes.

She came closer and hissed in his ear, "Did you get hit?"

"I'm fine," Dick muttered. "Cameras." Louder he said, "Bruce, this is one of the kids on your scholarship, it was her idea to come running out."

"It's a pleasure to meet you in person," said Bruce Wayne, extending a hand for her to shake.

"Ugh, yeah," said Artemis, becoming a bit tongue-tied. "Right now, I just want to...mom!" Artemis interrupted herself as a bus pulled up and out came a familiar figure in a wheel chair. She went running off without another word.

"Bruce..." Dick said softly.

Bruce took one look at his adopted son's pale face and nodded. For such an impressive and important man, the two of them slipped away quite quickly.

So quickly, in fact, that by the time Artemis and Barbara looked around, the Wayne car was already a block away. Barbara shook her head in an exasperated way and Artemis was left confused and wondering.

* * *

"You got shot, Master Dick?" Alfred shook his head.

"Hey, I was in gym clothes," complained Dick. "I'm used to the Kevlar suit."

"When you don't have it," began Alfred.

"I know...be more careful..."

"You resolved a potentially catastrophic hostage situation quickly," said Bruce with a smile. "Well done."

"Thanks, Bruce," said Dick. "But I had help."

"That doesn't lessen my congratulations," said Bruce.

And Dick beamed.

* * *

School was cancelled for the rest of the week.

So Artemis looked at a city map and rode her bike for almost an hour to reach the Wayne Mansion on the edge of the city. She'd worn her uniform, because it didn't feel right to wear jeans to a mansion, and _still_ felt under dressed. She went up to the door before hesitating, and hadn't quite decided to press the doorbell when it was opened by a balding butler. A real butler.

"Can I help you, miss?"

"Ugh...hi," said Artemis. "Um...I'm a friend of Dick's from school and I wanted to...ugh...yesterday he...I mean..."

The butler raised an eyebrow and said, "Would you like to come in?"

"Ah...okay." Artemis followed the butler inside and stood awkwardly in the entrance hall.

The Butler called up the stairs. "Master Dick! A friend of yours is here." The butler turned to her and said, "I'll go heat the oven to bake some cookies. Would you like anything to drink? Orange juice? Water? Soda?"

"Orange juice is fine, thanks," said Artemis awkwardly.

"Very good, miss...?"

"Artemis," said Artemis.

"Ah," said Alfred. "Well, Miss Artemis, welcome to Wayne Manor."

"Artemis?" A familiar voice called Artemis' attention back to the huge stairs and Dick Grayson came down, pulling on a shirt over the bandage around his chest. "What are you doing here?"

"You _did_ get shot!" Said Artemis accusingly.

"That's not an abnormal occurrence," said Dick with a shrug (immediately followed by a wince.) "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Artemis. "My mom was a bit shaken though."

"Bruce says he wouldn't be surprised if parents pull their kids from the school," said Dick. "But he's going to donate Wayne security technology so that it won't happen again...probably."

"So," said Artemis, leaning against the banister. "Dick Grayson is Boy Wonder."

Dick smiled that infuriating smile.

"Wild," she said.

"And Bruce Wayne...?"

"Has an agreement with Batman," said Dick.

"Your stuff is Wayne Tech?" Asked Artemis.

"Some of it," said Dick.

"Crazy," said Artemis. "And Batgirl...?"

"Is in your Algebra class," said Dick with a grin.

"Wild," said Artemis again.

There was an awkward pause before Artemis said, "I better go."

"But Alfred is putting cookies in the oven," protested Dick. "They're worth the wait. Trust me."

Artemis smiled and decided to stick around.


End file.
